The class that I created a learner map of is my sophomore regular Biology class. There are 21 total students in this class, eight girls and thirteen boys. Of this, I have two students with IEPs, no 504s and no ELL students. This class meets every other day, first period, from 7:30 to 8:48.
Learner Map
Reflections
1. Describe key trends that you discovered for this class?
Students in this class have an overall problem with being on time. There are four or five students in this class that are habitually late or not present at all, and this in turn provides several different distractions through out the period to students that are on time. I also have found that they are not easily excitable. They prefer the more straight forward lecturing technique of notes and discussion. Also, they do not like being put on the spot, so often instead of having a discussion for a question I have students write down their questions independently and give them a few minutes to do so. Finally, students will complete most of in class work, and then when it comes to finishing the last eight at home, or just turning it in mostly complete, students do not and opt to take a zero instead.
2. Describe the needs, interests, and characteristics of your learners that surprised you.
As previously stated, I only have two students with actual IEPs, and these students require more time and written/extra direction. More than half of my students are involved in athletics, or have mentioned to me their love of any one particular sport. Student A is in front because she is easily distracted and needs some cues to stay on task through out a lesson. Student B is extremely slow to get new concepts presented to her, needs to be isolated at her own seat to prevent getting distracted or being distracting to friends, and after school help after most concept introductions. Student C is one of my students that rarely attends more than a third of the class, and is very distracting upon her entrance. She constantly needs to make up work and stay after to learn material she misses. Student D is a challenge because unlike most of his fellow students, his interests lie in debate and he is very bored by straight forward material. When working with him independelty I will present him with more creative ideas on the material, but because he seems to be alone in his desire to discuss, it is hard to get a conversation going and he often loses his motivation. Student E was much more willing in the past and recently has expressed lack of motivation to do any work. It is difficult to make sure that this attitude does not permeate the rest of the class, so most of this students difficulties are addressed on an individual basis. I was extremely surprised to realize that even though there is an extremely small fraction of students that have IEPs, there is a great amount of differentiation that I have to do to apply to all students.
3. How will these characteristics affect the way you plan, teach, and manage this class?
Although my students attitude, and how they work best is scued towards more structured class time, I will still push some activities to be interwoven in this note taking setting to break up the time, and try to spark the creative side of the students. My overall management of the class is not an issue, but it is so crucial to not only individually address problem students, but students who are doing well and do want to be challeged and sometimes fall into the overall attitude of the vocal minority. Many of my teaching goals are focused towards these students and motivating them to do well.
Jamie, you did a good job describing your class and the challenges they present. I agree with you that you need balance structure with providing opportunities for active learning. When I had classes of this type, increasing the time for notetaking never worked. Instead, I found that having students working in small groups on multi-day projects worked much better. The key was to define the project goals and interim milestones very specifically so that (1) everyone was responsible for something and (2) deadlines were firm and frequent. - fogleman
Biology Regular
Name:Jamie Moscovitz
Course: EDC 484
Description
The class that I created a learner map of is my sophomore regular Biology class. There are 21 total students in this class, eight girls and thirteen boys. Of this, I have two students with IEPs, no 504s and no ELL students. This class meets every other day, first period, from 7:30 to 8:48.
Learner Map
Reflections
1. Describe key trends that you discovered for this class?
Students in this class have an overall problem with being on time. There are four or five students in this class that are habitually late or not present at all, and this in turn provides several different distractions through out the period to students that are on time. I also have found that they are not easily excitable. They prefer the more straight forward lecturing technique of notes and discussion. Also, they do not like being put on the spot, so often instead of having a discussion for a question I have students write down their questions independently and give them a few minutes to do so. Finally, students will complete most of in class work, and then when it comes to finishing the last eight at home, or just turning it in mostly complete, students do not and opt to take a zero instead.
2. Describe the needs, interests, and characteristics of your learners that surprised you.
As previously stated, I only have two students with actual IEPs, and these students require more time and written/extra direction. More than half of my students are involved in athletics, or have mentioned to me their love of any one particular sport. Student A is in front because she is easily distracted and needs some cues to stay on task through out a lesson. Student B is extremely slow to get new concepts presented to her, needs to be isolated at her own seat to prevent getting distracted or being distracting to friends, and after school help after most concept introductions. Student C is one of my students that rarely attends more than a third of the class, and is very distracting upon her entrance. She constantly needs to make up work and stay after to learn material she misses. Student D is a challenge because unlike most of his fellow students, his interests lie in debate and he is very bored by straight forward material. When working with him independelty I will present him with more creative ideas on the material, but because he seems to be alone in his desire to discuss, it is hard to get a conversation going and he often loses his motivation. Student E was much more willing in the past and recently has expressed lack of motivation to do any work. It is difficult to make sure that this attitude does not permeate the rest of the class, so most of this students difficulties are addressed on an individual basis. I was extremely surprised to realize that even though there is an extremely small fraction of students that have IEPs, there is a great amount of differentiation that I have to do to apply to all students.
3. How will these characteristics affect the way you plan, teach, and manage this class?
Although my students attitude, and how they work best is scued towards more structured class time, I will still push some activities to be interwoven in this note taking setting to break up the time, and try to spark the creative side of the students. My overall management of the class is not an issue, but it is so crucial to not only individually address problem students, but students who are doing well and do want to be challeged and sometimes fall into the overall attitude of the vocal minority. Many of my teaching goals are focused towards these students and motivating them to do well.
Jamie, you did a good job describing your class and the challenges they present. I agree with you that you need balance structure with providing opportunities for active learning. When I had classes of this type, increasing the time for notetaking never worked. Instead, I found that having students working in small groups on multi-day projects worked much better. The key was to define the project goals and interim milestones very specifically so that (1) everyone was responsible for something and (2) deadlines were firm and frequent. -